Swaziland Commission on Human Rights

Yesterday I was asked if I wanted to go to a meeting today for work. OK.

Turns out that the meeting is a two day consultation conference about the establishment of a Human Rights Committee for Swaziland. Officially, the 'National Consultative Conference on the Swaziland Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration.' It is being held at the Royal Swazi Spa in Ezulwini, about 20 minutes out of Manzini.

The commissioners for the HRC have already been appointed, on the basis of Constitutional provisions (a very new constitution, 2005), now they are in the process of passing a bill to finalize the commission itself. The bill has been in the works since 2007- it takes a while for things to get done here.

It was very interesting getting a feel for the politics of human rights in Swaziland. At day 1 of the consultation there were politicians, chiefs, NGO representatives and HRC representatives from other Commonwealth countries, including Justice Emile Short a former judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and now the Head Commissioner for the Ghana HRC. A lot of the attendants were very annoyed that they only saw the Bill for the first time today, so I imagine the debates will be very lively tomorrow after attendants have pored over documents tonight.